17MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

4 & 5 July The night was passed with great pain and discomfort~ooney and the next morning it became apparent that he wouldhave to return to Austin immediately. With Bob's car being thefastest vehicle available, the Good Squire volunteered to drive andso the two departed early that morning. The remaining group continuedon as planned. EqUipment was organized and we headed downto s6tano de Tlamaya. Seven would go into the cave: Joe, Rick,Bob, and I to the end, Sam and Diane to the top of Junction Pit,and Mark to the bottom of the entrance drop. The main purpose ofthe trip was to take pictures and collect insects throughout thecave. Upon arriving at the cave about 9:30, we noticed that thearroyo leading into the entrance was washed clean and from the localpeople we learned that it had been raining almost steadily for thepast week. This was the reason for the high level of the rivers wehad noticed on the trip down. We began the descent of the entrancepit and everything continued smoothly from then on. The water levelwas surprisingly low, considering the recent rains, which indicatesthat the system drains very quickly. Bob, Joe, Rick, and I leftSam and Diane at the Junction Pit and continued on into the cave.Picture taking was slow work, but finally the Big Room was reachedand we took a short rest. From the far end of the room we made aside trip into the Upstream Passage. (There are two stream systemsin the cave. The first begins in the Entrance Room and siphonsjust before the Big Room while the other begins in the UpstreamPassage, runs tangent to the far end of the Big Room, then continueson to the end of the cave.) The Upstream Passage is unusual in thatit is of an oval cros&-section, (not a fissure type as in the restof the cave; see photographs on page 76) which averages 20 feet hi6hand 40 feet wide. (See photograph of Upstream Passage on page 77.)This passage is well decorated with formations and continues 481feet from the Big Room to a point where the formations almost blockthe passage. By continuing through a short wate~filled crawlway,one can explore several hundred additional feet of passage beforeit is blocked completely by breakdown. While in the process ofmaking photographs we were pleased to notice that the almost tran&­parent worms, as yet undescribed, have not been killed off by themany people visiting the cave since their discovery. From here weback-tracked to the Big Room then continued on downstream. In thisdownstream section of the cave much chimneying is required to avoidthe deep pools of water. The passage averages no more than 10 feetwide and usually the ceiling is well out of sight. After descendinga 40 foot drop a short rest stop was made, then we continued on.Although the distance from the Big Room to the Pinnacle Drop is only2717 feet, the constant climbing and chimneying became very monotonous.Also, fatigue was beginning to show on all of us and whenwe reached the 32 foot drop immediately preceeding the PinnacleDrop, all unanimously voted to rest. Ten minutes later Rick andJoe decided it best if they not continue on. So Bob and I pushedahead in hopes of finding the cave beetle, Sphodrini, which had beenreported to live near the end of the cave. Descending the 32 footdrop, we followed the passage a short distance further to the topof the Pinnacle Drop. Peering over, we expected to see only blacknessand mist from the waterfall, but instead we were extremelysurprised to find that the drop was filled with watert We knewthat it had been raining heaVily in the area for the past week butdidn't expect to come upon anything like this. Evidently the rainshad been so great that the local water table had risen. In the75